Steam-valve.



PATENTBD MAY 31, 1904.

T. a, J. R. RAY. STEAM VALVE.

APPLIOATIQH FILED FEB. 11, 1903.

H: Moguls PETERS c0, PHOTO-LUNG, WASHINGTON n c nb.7eneoa UNITED STATESf Patented May 31, 1904.

PAT NT OFFIC v I ,.srEAM-vALvE."

V SPECIFICATION forming part 'of Letters Patent No. 761,607, dated May31, 1904i Application filed February 11, 1903. erial No. 142,943. (Nomodel.)

.To aZZ whom zfrmay' concern.- I

Be it known that we, T l-roMAs RAY and JOSHUA R. RAY, citizens of theUnited States of America, residing at Manistee, in the county ofManistee and State of -Michigan, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Steam-Valves, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to an improved construction of the steam-actuatedvalve of the steam-cylinders for steam pumping-engines,

by which all extraneous mechanisms are dis-' pensed with, andconsequently the cost of production reduced and wear and tear andrepairs made less.

This inventionhas reference more particularly to that class of valveswhich are operated by the direct application of steam-pres sure to theend surfaces of the steam-valves or steam-valve plungers.

Generally speaking, our invention consists of an ordinary steam-pistonmade steam-tight in its cylinder by rings in the usual manner andcooperating with suitable trip-portsor passage-ways to alternatelyconnect the bore of the cylinder with the valve-chambers of thevalve-chest. in which operation the main steampiston is adapted to serveas a valve to the trip-ports, thus alternately controlling the admissionof steam to the valve-chambers of the valve chest' for the purpose ofreversing the steamvalve or alternately driving it back and forth in thevalve-chest to reverse the motion of the main steam-piston by the inletand outlet of steam to the main cylinder through suitably -arrangedsteam and exhaust passageways controlled by the steam-valve, ashereinafter described Referring to the accompanying drawings,

tion of a portion of the engine and taken on the line 4 4: of Fig. 1;and Fig. 5 is an en larged viewof'a portion of Fig. 1, showing thearrangement of the check-valves.

In the drawings, A represents a'steam-cylinder containing a piston B andhaving mounted thereon a valve-chest C. The valve-chest extends throughaperforation in the partition E with a steam-tight'working fit. Thesteam-inletH on top of the valve-chest 0 opens into passage-waysI 1,leading to ports J J near the outer ends ofthe valvechambers, while theexhaust-outlets K K open from the ends of an exhaust-chamber L on top ofthecylinder A and extending crosswise thereof with upwardly-extendingelongated passage-waysM M, reaching up to the Valve-chambers andcommunicating therewith through exhaust-ports-N N near the inner ends ofsaid valve-chambers.

Ports O O in the valve-chambers between the ports J J and the outer endsof said valvechambers communicate by means of passageways P P with thecylinderat its extreme ends, and ports Q Q at the extreme inner ends ofthe valve-chambers communicate by means of passage-ways R R with thecylinder near The openings of the pasv the ends thereof. sage-ways R R,however, are sufficiently distant from the ends of the cylinder to beclosed by the piston when nearing the end of its strokeand remain closedthereby until the piston has fairly started on its return stroke.

'All of the ports 0, 0, J, J, N, Q, and

Q are in the form of annular grooves on the interior walls of the'valvechambers andare adapted to be-opened and closed by the valveheadsF F.

From the extreme outer end of each valve-j chamber a small passage-way SS leads to the cylinder ata position where it will be closed by thepiston during the latter part of its inder-casting and the valve-chestthey are enlarged to form pockets T T, which contain ball or othervalves U to permit of a passage of steam upward through said passageways, but serve as check-valves to prevent its passage downwardtherethrough. hen the piston B has nearly completed its left stroke, theseveral parts are in the positions shown in Fig. 1, where the valve isin its left position, admitting steam through passageways I and P to theright end of cylinder A. The passage S has just been uncovered and livesteam is now admitted therethrough to the left end of valve-chamber D tocause the valve to move to its right position. In so doing ports J and Oare closed and ports Q and N are opened, thereby cutting off the supplyof steam to the right end of cylinder A and opening it to the exhaust,while in the other valve-chamber ports J and 0 have been opened andports Q and-N have been closed, cutting off the left end of cylinder Afrom the exhaust and admitting live steam thereto. Consequently thepiston B is driven to the right end of the cylinder, and just previousto reaching the end of its stroke it closes the exhaust throughpassage-way R to cushion the remainder of its stroke by the entrappedsteam, and then as it reaches its limit it uncovers passage-way S andadmits live steam to the right end of valve-chamber D to throw the valveto its left position again, and thereby restore original connections tocause the piston to be driven in the left direction, and these actionsare repeated.

The pressures on the valve by which it is caused to make the movementsabove described are as follows: When the valve is in the left position,as shown in Fig. 1, and during the main part of the piston-stroke to theleft that is, up to the point just previous to the openingof passage-waySboth faces of valvehead F are subjected to the exhaust-pressure, andthe inner face being of less area than the outer face on account of thedifference made by the stem G the tendency here would be to move thevalve to the right. However, both faces of the valve-head F beingsubjected to live-steam pressure and the difference in areas of its twofaces being opposed to that of valvehead F and the tendency to move thevalve to the left produced thereby being greater than thebefore-mentioned tendency to move to the right, by reason of the greaterpressure on Valve-head F, the resultant force is in the left directionand keeps the valve firmly stationed at the left end of the valve-chest.When the piston has reached the position shown in Fig. 1 and openspassage-way S to the live steam, the effect is changed, for thevalve-head F instead of having exhaust-pressure on its outer face nowhas live-steam pressure, which is sufficient to more than overcome theexhaustpressure on the other face of valve-head F and also thedifference in pressure on the two faces of valve-head F, and as theresult the valve is rapidly thrown to its right position, making thechanges of connections between ports, as before set forth. Now the sameconditions exist as at first, but the parts are oppositely located andtheir action is the same as just described.

The object of the ball-valves U in the passage-ways S S is to preventthe escape of steam from the outer end of chambers D D when the valve isbeing thrown, so as to form a cushion to ease the blow of the valveagainst the heads of the valve-chambers. It is found in practice,however, that with engines of the larger sizes where the area of thevalve-chambers is so much greater than the area of the passage-ways S Sthese check-valves may be dispensed with, as then the outlet through thepassageways is so slow that a sufiieient amount of steam is held in thevalve-chambers to cushion the valve.

The object of locating the cylinder ends of passage-ways R R in advanceof the passageways P P, besides for cushioning the end of thepiston-stroke, as before described, is to provide for closing saidpassage-ways R R by the piston B before the valve is thrown to admitsteam through the corresponding passageway P or P. The piston B tightlyfits the cylinder, and when covering the ends of passage-ways R Rprevents the passage of steam thereto from either side of said piston,which would interfere with the complete throw of the valve. Should steamgain admission to the passage-way R when the parts are in the positionshown in Fig. 1, it would be entrapped therein when the valve is thrownpast the port N and form a cushion to prevent the complete movement ofthe valve.

Having fully described our invention in detail, what we claim as new,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A device of the character set forth, comprising a main cylinder and avalve-chest having steam supply and exhaust ports, said valve-chestprovided with a partition dividing it into a pair of chambers, saidchambers and cylinder being formed with ports and passages through whicheach of said chambers has communication with said supply and exhaustports and each end portion of said cylinder has communication with theends of the respective chambers each through a plurality of passagesconnecting the same at different places in the travel of the parts, apiston in said cylinder controlling the flow of steam from the same, anda valve in said chest, said valve being primarily moved by the steamalternately propelling the piston back and forth, and comprising a stemextending through said partition and a head in each of said chambersarranged to open and close the ports therein.

2. In a device of the character described, a cylinder, a pistonoperating therein, a pair of valve-chambers each having connection atits IIO der and also with the exhaustrport and each having connection atits outer end with its respective-end of the cylinder and also with thesteam-port, avalvc comprising avalve-head in each of the valve-chambersadapted'to close the connections at either end of the valve-chamber anda stem of smaller diameter than the valveheads connecting saidvalve-heads and passing through the-partition between thevalve-chambers, and apassage-way at each end of the-cylinder leadingfrom a point entirely passed by the piston during its movement andterminating at the outer end of the corresponding valvecharnber. Y

3. In a device of the character described, a cylinder, a pistonoperating therein, a pair of valve-chambers each having connection atits inner endwith its respective end of the cylinder and also with theexhaust-port and each having connection at its outer end with itsrespective end of the cylinder and also with the steam-port, a valvecomprising a valve-head in each of the valve-chambers adapted to closethe connections at either'end of the valveterminating at the outer endof the corre-- sponding valve-chamber, and a check-valve in eachpassage-way.

4. In device of the character described, a

cylinder, a piston operating therein, a pair of valve-chambers eachhaving connection at one end by means of passage-ways with the eX- ihaust-port and with an end of the cylinder, the passage-way connectingwith the cylinder terminating at a snflicient distance from the end ofsaid cylinder to be closed by the piston before completing its stroke,each of the valve chambers also having connection at its other end bymeans of passage-ways with the steamport and with an end of the cylinderat a point nearer the end of the cylinder than the corresponding beforementioned passage way connecting with the cylinder, a valve comprising avalve-head in each of the valve-chambers adapted to close theconnections at either end of the valve-chamber and. a stemof smallerdiameter than the valve-heads connecting said valve heads and passingthrough the partition between the valve-chambers, and a passageway ateach end of the cylinder leading from a point in the cylinder entirelypassed by the piston during its movement and terminating at thesecond-mentiond end of one of the valvechambers.

-In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

THOMAS RAY. JOSHUA R. RAY.

